Flowers, Gardening, and the Art of Living

Think of your favorite flower – a rose, an orchid, a daisy. Looking into a flower, we can see that it is full of life. It contains soil, minerals, rain, and sunshine. It is also full of space and time. In fact, if you look very closely, you might also be able to see that the whole cosmos is present and reflected in your one little flower. Without soil, minerals, rain, sunshine, time, and space – the flower could not grow and would not exist.

Like the flower, we each contain earth, water, air, sunlight, warmth… life! We also contain elements of the whole cosmos in our being. We too are composed and created in space, over time, and contain traces of our parents, grandparents, ancestors, education, culture, and environment. It’s an amazing reality to contemplate. What type of flower or garden we grow depends on a number of many major factors. Think about this.

Our mind and body is like a garden and the flowers it contains. Think of the seeds that are planted in a garden. There are seeds of joy, peace, mindfulness, understanding, and love. Unfortunately, there are also seeds of cravings, lust, anger, fear, and hate. What you become depends on what seeds you plant and water in your garden. If you water a seed of peace in your mind, peace will grow. If you water the seed of happiness in your mind, happiness will bloom. When the seed of anger is watered, you will become angry.

The seeds that are planted and watered tend to grow and become strong in you – so you need to be a mindful gardener. You need to selectively water the seeds of the flowers you want to grow in the garden you will become. You don’t need to plant and water those seeds that you don’t want to see grow in the garden that is you. It turns out that gardening is key to the Art of Living. Again, think carefully about this as you tend your garden.

This article basically paraphrases a few excerpts that appealed to me from an excellent book I recently read called The Art of Living, by Thich Nhat Hanh.  

BTW - If you are interested in gardening, join the Pink Dogwood Garden Club in Summerton, SC, and start living more fully.